In Hawai‘i, as is the case globally, sea level rise threatens the availability of suitable habitat for waterbirds and other coastal species. This study examines Hawaiian wetland agro-ecosystems (loʻi) as social-ecological systems that may meet human needs while expanding nesting habitat of endangered waterbirds, if restored under an Indigenous Resource Management paradigm. We applied spatial analysis to project: (1) the area of existing waterbird habitat likely lost to sea level rise by the end of the century (2100); and (2) the area of waterbird habitat potentially gained through restoration of lo‘i systems. Results show that, if loʻi offer similar or equivalent habitat value to Hawaiian waterbirds as conventionally managed wetlands, the restoration of loʻi would not only compensate for projected losses of wetland habitat due to sea level rise, but substantially contribute toward the recovery of endangered waterbirds that are currently habitat-limited. This study demonstrates capacity for contemporary Indigenous land management to address conservation and food-security needs in the Hawaiian Islands, as well as challenges of multi-objective land use and habitat restoration for endangered wetland-dependent fauna. This research further contributes toward a growing number of studies suggesting that Indigenous practices based on social-ecological frameworks offer potential to achieve sustainability and biodiversity goals simultaneously.

在全球范围内，在夏威夷，海平面上升威胁着水鸟和其他沿海物种的合适栖息地的可用性。这项研究将夏威夷湿地农业生态系统（lo'i）视为可以满足人类需求的社会生态系统，同时如果在土著资源管理范式下进行恢复，可以扩大濒临灭绝的水鸟的筑巢栖息地。我们将空间分析应用于以下项目：（1）到本世纪末（2100年），可能因海平面上升而失去的现有水鸟栖息地面积；（2）通过恢复Lo'i系统可能获得的水鸟栖息地面积。结果表明，如果loʻi提供与传统管理的湿地类似或等同于夏威夷水鸟的栖息地价值，则恢复lo'i不仅可以补偿由于海平面上升而造成的湿地栖息地的预计损失，而且可以为目前受栖息地限制的濒临灭绝的水鸟的恢复做出重大贡献。这项研究证明了当代土著土地管理解决夏威夷群岛养护和粮食安全需求的能力，以及针对濒危的依赖湿地的动物进行多目标土地利用和生境恢复的挑战。这项研究进一步促进了越来越多的研究，表明基于社会生态框架的土著实践为同时实现可持续性和生物多样性目标提供了潜力。